A non-denominational sanctuary built for the Jekyll Island Club by architect Howard Constable, Faith Chapel is one of the best-known structures in the National Historic Landmark District. It features a window signed and personally installed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and another stained glass panel behind the pulpit depicting the Adoration of the Christ Child designed by Maitland Armstrong and his daughter Helen. The chapel is well-maintained today and is often used for weddings and open for tours at times.
The gargoyles are a copy of those found at Notre Dame de Paris.
Jekyll Island Historic District, National Register of Historic Places + National Historic Landmark
Villa Ospo was one of the last structures built in the Jekyll Island Club era. It took its name from the Guale word for either the island, or a village thereon, and has Spanish Eclectic and Italian Renaissance elements.
It was built by architect John Russell Pope* for Walter Jennings (14 September 1858-9 January 1933). Jennings was a member of Skull and Bones at Yale, a Columbia Law School classmate of Theodore Roosevelt, and director of Standard Oil of New Jersey. He was a student of history, as well, and helped successfully lobby the Georgia legislature to correct the long-used spelling ‘Jekyl’ to ‘Jekyll’, as it should have been all along since Oglethorpe named the island for Sir Joseph Jekyll.
*-Notably, Pope was also the architect of the Jefferson Memorial and the National Gallery of Art].
Jennings died here on 9 January 1933. He and his wife were injured in an automobile accident on Oglethorpe Road on 4 January and though a heart attack was listed as his cause of death, it’s possible this was brought on from injuries sustained in the accident.
Jekyll Island Historic District, National Register of Historic Places + National Historic Landmark
This Renaissance Revival Mediterranean-influenced “cottage” was built in 1917 for plumbing magnate Richard Teller Crane, Jr., (7 November 1873-7 November 1931). David Adler and Henry C. Dangler were the architects. Dangler died in 1917 and the house wasn’t completed and occupied until early 1919.
It was the largest and most elaborate home ever built on Jekyll Island.
It contained 30 rooms and 17 bathrooms , the pinnacle of modernity at the time.
The grounds and sunken garden are among the most beautifully landscaped public areas on the Georgia coast.
Jekyll Island Historic District, National Register of Historic Places + National Historic Landmark
One of the most beloved homes in the National Historic Landmark District, Moss Cottage was built for William Struthers, Jr., (15 June 1848-12 December 1911) in 1896. Though the architect is unknown, it’s possible that Struthers himself was involved in the design.
Struthers and his brother, John, owned one of the largest marble firms in the country. It was established by their architect grandfather, John Struthers, who worked with William Strickland on the iconic Second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia.
It was later occupied by George Henry Macy, Kate Carter Macy, and William Kingsland Macy.
Jekyll Island Historic District, National Register of Historic Places + National Historic Landmark
Note: This replaces a post originally published on 5 March 2012.
Henry Harford Cumming envisioned Augusta as the “Lowell of the South” [in reference to the textile hub in Massachusetts] and was the driving force behind the Augusta Canal. The first nine-mile section was completed between 1845-1846, and within a couple of years three mills had already been risen along the waterway. Built near the end of the Canal Era [roughly 1800-1850], it was amazingly successful, as most Southern canals never were, and is the only intact industrial canal still in use in the South today. It was lengthened and enlarged between 1872-1877. It was after this expansion that most of the mills associated with Augusta’s industrial heritage were constructed. These included the Enterprise, Blanche, Sibley, and King Mills. I believe the present gatehouse dates to the expansion period in the 1870s.
Diversion Dam and Savannah River Rapids
A V-shaped dam diverts the Savannah River at the headgates and below it are what is now known as the Savannah Rapids. It is a popular recreation area and a very picturesque location.
Augusta Canal just below the headgates
Along the walkway at the gatehouse you’ll notice hundreds, if not thousands, of modern padlocks. These have been left behind by visitors over the years, as a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the place. I’m not sure when the tradition started, but it has definitely caught on.
Augusta Canal Industrial District, National Register of Historic Places + National Historic Landmark + Augusta Canal National Heritage Area
This fine antebellum home, unusual for Augusta with its cast iron verandah, was built by grocery wholesaler William Sterling Roberts. [A plaque on the house dates it to circa 1830, the National Register nomination form places it at 1856, while Historic Augusta dates it to circa 1860; stay tuned for an update on this, but my guess is its Greek Revival style would place it nearer the earlier date.] After the war, it was home to the Platt family for a time, and later, Porter Fleming, and a Walker family. The D’Antignac family owned it for much of the 20th century. It is now an attorney’s office.
Greene Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This is another great example of the Second Empire style in Augusta. Built for Commercial Bank president William T. Wheless (1847-1908) circa 1872, James M. Gray and William T. Houston were later residents. It’s now an attorney’s office.
Greene Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Historic Augusta notes that this is the most outstanding example of the Second Empire style in Augusta. Grocer Reuben B. Wilson is the first known resident, circa 1880. Another grocer, Zachariah Daniel owned the house by the early in 1890s.
Greene Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This Second Empire house was built for Jacob Phinizy (9 August 1857-30 May 1924) circa 1882. Phinizy was the great-nephew of John Phinizy, owner of the iconic house next door, and a cotton factor with his family’s firm, F. Phinizy and Company. He also served as a president of the Georgia Railroad Bank. His father’s family was from Oglethorpe County.
Beginning in 1946, the house served for many years as the Poteet Funeral Home. It was modernized at that time by the local architectural firm of Scroggs & Ewing.
Greene Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
German-speaking Augustans first organized a Lutheran congregation, Saint Matthew’s, in the 1850s and their 1860 house of worship still stands at another location, home today to the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. A congregation catering to English-speaking members, Holy Trinity English Lutheran Church, was established in the 1880s. The two merged in the early 1920s as the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection and built this limestone-clad sanctuary between 1925-1926.
Local architects Philander P. Scroggs (1888-1960) and Whitley L. Ewing (1888-1953) designed the church in the Gothic style. Their firm built numerous structures in early 20th-century Augusta.
Greene Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 